7. He also appeared to James,and then to allthe apostles.
8. Finally, he appeared to me, even though I am like someone who was born at the wrong time.
9. I am the least important of all the apostles. In fact, I caused so much trouble for God's church that I don't even deserve to be called an apostle.
10. But God was kind! He made me what I am, and his wonderful kindness wasn't wasted. I worked much harder than any of the other apostles, although it was really God's kindness at work and not me.
11. But it doesn't matter if I preached or if they preached. All of you believed the message just the same.
12. If we preach that Christ was raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life?
13. If they won't be raised to life, Christ himself wasn't raised to life.
14. And if Christ wasn't raised to life, our message is worthless, and so is your faith.
15. If the dead won't be raised to life, we have told lies about God by saying that he raised Christ to life, when he really did not.
16. So if the dead won't be raised to life, Christ wasn't raised to life.
17. Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins.
18. And those people who died after putting their faith in him are completely lost.
19. If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else.